Player Updates

Smith-Schuster had nine receptions (on 10 targets) for 143 yards and a touchdown, and added a 96-yard kickoff return for another score, in Sunday's 28-24 win over the Browns. He finished the 2017 season with 58 catches (on 80 targets) for 917 yards and seven touchdowns, and added 240 yards and the touchdown on nine kick returns in 14 games.

Smith-Schuster was clearly Landry Jones' favorite receiver, and the rookie took advantage of the opportunity and the absence of Antonio Brown (lower leg). The first Steelers player with a receiving touchdown and a kick return touchdown in the same game since Gary Ballman in 1963, Smith-Schuster gives the team another weapon in an already potent arsenal.

Smith-Schuster led his team with six catches for 75 yards and a touchdown on seven targets in Monday's 34-6 win over the Texans.

Smith-Schuster was quiet for most of this one, but came up with a 49-yard grab and an 18-yard touchdown on one drive in the fourth quarter to make fantasy owners happy. He and Martavis Bryant should continue to see added attention from quarterback Ben Roethlisberger while Antonio Brown (calf) heals. With Pittsburgh needing a win and a New England loss next week to secure home-field advantage, expect big things from Smith-Schuster against the hapless Browns.

Smith-Schuster will take on an expanded role over the final two weeks of the regular season with Antonio Brown (calf) out of the lineup, ESPN.com's Jeremy Fowler reports.

Smith-Schuster has been efficient but also inconsistent, producing 11.1 yards per target while recording three games with 97 or more receiving yards and five games with less than 40 yards. He should be more dependable with Brown on the sideline, likely drawing at least a handful of targets for a sixth straight game when the Steelers face a lifeless Houston defense Monday. The Texans have allowed opposing wideouts to post a 62.4-percent catch rate and 9.4 yards per target, with one out of every 15.6 targets going for a touchdown. A few teams have given up more total fantasy points to wide receivers, but none has allowed such efficient production on a per-target basis.

Smith-Schuster (hamstring) brought in all six of his targets for 114 yards in Sunday's 27-24 loss to the Patriots. He also returned two kickoffs for 49 yards.

The rookie appeared to have made the play of the afternoon when he took a short pass up the left sideline and then cut back to the middle late in the fourth quarter, gaining 69 yards before appearing to run out of gas and getting brought down at the Patriots' 10-yard line. Smith-Schuster showed no ill effects whatsoever from the hamstring issue that had been plaguing him earlier in the week, and he appears poised for No. 1 receiver duties in Week 16 against the vulnerable Texans secondary with Antonio Brown (calf) likely to miss the contest, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.

Smith-Schuster (hamstring) is listed as active for Sunday's game against the Patriots.

Smith-Schuster thus returns to action following a one-game suspension, and with New England likely to focus on containing star wideout Antonio Brown on Sunday, Smith-Schuster could be a sneaky Week 15 fantasy play, assuming no setbacks with the hamstring issue that limited his practice participation Thursday and Friday.